Perspective Taking and Decision Making
Effective leadership isn’t always about sole decision making; sometimes it involves simply taking the time to sit down and listen. I’ve discussed thoughtful listening in the past, and the idea that as a leader you’ll be well suited to hear out your team members and to speak with your team genuinely. When you make an authentic effort to converse with the team members who keep the wheels of your business turning, you contribute to the flow of information and ideas in your organization.
We can equate this example to the community management realm: Board members are tasked with making decisions in the best interest of their community as a whole, and gaining the perspectives and listening to the concerns of homeowners — for example, by opening the floor to residents to speak their minds at community meetings — helps the Board’s decision making process. It gives them a well-rounded and clear understanding of the feelings of residents of the Association.
The more diverse perspectives we can gather, the more we understand the problem that needs solving and the better decisions we can make as leaders.
